German Patent Document DE 35 12 711 describes a rolling bearing which can be used as a radial or axial bearing in which the rolling elements ride upon races formed by race rings received in a race ring bed, the race rings themselves being constituted by wires which have their ends in abutting relationship or defining a small tolerance gap with one another and received in grooves of the bearing for the two bearing halves. In this system, in grooves of the bearing between the race rings and the groove walls, casing rings are received which are braced radially and axially against the walls of the bearing grooves and which form race ring beds receiving the race rings on their sides turned toward the latter.
In the following description, we will refer to strips, springs or rings which will have abutting ends, substantially abutting ends, ends which form a small tolerance gap or ends which are juxtaposed or adjoin. All of these terms are intended to mean that the ends should come as close to one another as is practicable to ensure the formation of a substantially continuous ring. In some cases that means that there will be actual contact so that the junction itself will be scarcely discernible and corresponding surfaces at the two ends will be flush with one another so that there will be true continuity of the ring.
In some cases, however, a gap will form between the two ends or will be formed between the two ends. That gap may be desirable to prevent the ring from being forced from its bed or to permit thermal expansion without deforming the ring. Such a gap is referred to as a tolerance gap herein and where reference is made to substantially abutting relationship, for example, or the other terms defined herein are used, it will be understood that the relationship of the ends is such as to permit actual contact or the existence of the tolerance gap.
Rolling bearings of the type described in German Patent Document DE 35 12 711 have their casing rings shaped to correspond substantially to the geometry of the race ring beds and to the race rings and distribute the force received from the race rings to the walls of the bearing grooves of the housing or shaft, thereby providing high bearing precision and good force distribution per unit area and low force development per unit area.
The casing rings are similar to the inner and outer races of conventional bearings which receive the rolling elements and roll-element cage between them and are circumstantially continuous. They generally form part of a preassembled bearing which is marketed as a complete unit and must be installed as such or disassembled when the two casing rings are to be inserted separately or prestressing of the casing rings is desired. It may be noted, in this regard, that it is not uncommon to desire to provide the outer casing ring with a radially inward prestress and the inner casing ring with a radially outward prestress. Means is generally provided to hold the casing rings together until such disassembly is desired.
Prestress of this earlier construction is difficult and expensive to carry out, requires casing rings of special materials and cannot make use of casing rings of plastics or synthetic resins.
In Japanese Patent Document JP 56-3318A as found in Patent Abstracts of Japan, a wire rolling bearing is described in which the casing ring is provided with at least one holder for a spring ring composed of wire.
German Patent Document DE-OS 26 25 806 describes a wire rolling bearing in which the casing ring is composed of a plastic.
European Patent Document 0 157 935 B1 discloses a wire rolling bearing in which an elastic casing ring is provided with an annular groove in which the race ring is received.
German Patent Document DE-PS 27 29 354 describes a wire ball bearing in which the race wire is set into an open groove in each of the opposite mutually longitudinally shiftable bearing parts so that the width of the opening of the grooves is less than the diameter of the race wire so that in cross section the groove walls extend over 180.degree. around the race wire.
Wire rolling bearings with radially inwardly or radially outwardly elastically prestressed race rings are also found in German Patent Document DE-PS 37 40 755.
From the publication ROTHE ERDE Wire Rolling Bearing, publication 1008/89, it is known to provide the wire rolling bearing with sealing lips which each elastically engage the other bearing ring in the assembled bearing to form a seal therewith.
From U.S. Pat. No. 3,304,138 we learn of ball bearings which can have at least one bearing ring which is reinforced by a support ring which can be composed of plastic (synthetic resin) having reinforcing inlays-such as reinforcing fibers, filaments, wires and/or fabrics.